our very existence is a problem because we are “thinking reeds”……
unlike all the other animals, we have moved beyond our programming,
our instincts, well some of us have, and by moving past our instincts,
we have moved beyond nature…for instincts are nature’s way of
programming behavior and actions into us that are beneficial for
us for survival…with instincts, one doesn’t have to think, one
just has to follow the programming, the instincts, and for the most
part, animals will survive… if the programming fits the current situation animals
find themselves in…the problem with programming is that the programs
are unable to improvise if the situation warrants it…as we have grown
beyond the programming, we can improvise if the situation requires it…
all those ism’s, myths, habits, prejudices, superstitions, are meant
to go beyond instincts and create new programming within us, that
allows us to adapt to ever changing situations…but programming is
just programming, it doesn’t create meaning or final cause…those ism’s
and habits and superstitions are meant to be tools that allow us to change
our actions and behavior to fit a given situation……….
if ism’s and habits and prejudices… are meant to be tools, that still leaves us
the problem of existence…for the problem of existence is not just about what tool
to use, but about what are we to do?
we often hide from this problem by engaging in the minutiae of our lives…
who will pick up dinner and who will pick up bobby after his baseball practice?
important details but nevertheless just details, chores to be done…
details that don’t shine light on who we are and what is possible for us?
and what is to be done?
to give one example of what we might do or might not do…….
are we really suppose to be killing each other? animals do so for food,
but we don’t have that excuse… there seems to be so much more we
could do beside killing each other…
and most killing seems to be done on a instinctual level… for reasons
best described as instinct as in anger, or hate or violence, greed…
these are base, instinctual emotions… and they drive us to actions that
harms others… and in instinct actions, quite often the one getting hurt is the
person who begins it or engages in it……
so this question or problem of existence can leads us down many different
paths…what are we to do?
if we don’t rise above instincts, then we have dishonored those higher
values of the human nature, that we could be acting upon like love,
hope, peace, and justice…
what would you think of a man who is a great talent in higher mathematics
but waste his time in a bar, being drunk all the time? “what a waste of talent”
you would say, and you would be right… but we, ourselves, have talents we
are wasting, not necessarily in a bar, but we are wasting our talents nevertheless…
in mindless pursuits of the lower instincts, anger and greed and hate……
“what are we to do” is a question about who we are and what is possible
for us as human beings…it is a choice…….and what choices would you make?
and have already made…….in what are we to do?
the problem of existence really comes down to a choice… what choices
are you going to make…………
the problem of existence is just about making choices……
what choices are you going to make?
Kropotkin